Naushad

Naushad Ali (26 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films.[1][2][3] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry.[4] He is particularly known for popularising the use of classical music in films.[5][6]

His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940.[7] His first musically successful film was Rattan (1944), followed by 35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Hindi film industry.[8]

Naushad Ali was born on 26 December 1919 in Lucknow and raised there also,[1] a city with a long tradition as a center of Indian Muslim culture. His father, Wahid Ali, was a munshi (court clerk). As a child, Naushad would visit the annual fair at the Deva Sharif in Barabanki, 25 km from Lucknow, where all the great qawwals and musicians of those days would perform before the devotees. He studied Hindustani music there under Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali, Ustad Babban Saheb and others. He also repaired harmoniums.[2]

As a lad, he joined a junior theatrical club and was appointed the club’s music maestro for their theatrical presentations. He used to watch silent films at the Royal theatre in Lucknow. Theatre owners would hire a team of musicians to play the tabla, harmonium, sitar and violin. The musicians would watch the film first, make notes, finalize the scales required. When the show began in the evening, they would sit in front of the screen and play music for the scenes. This was a great way to be entertained and learn music at the same time. It made him grasp the nuances required in composing a film’s background music score.

In time Naushad formed his own Windsor Music Entertainers or just Windsor Entertainers, so named because he had seen the word “Windsor” around Lucknow and liked its ring. It led to the Indian Star Theatrical Company in a theatre at Golaganj colony in Lucknow. He was trained under Laddan Khan until he became capable of working independently as a composer. There he also developed the sense to pick rare musical jewels from the folk tradition of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Saurashtra during the company’s sojourns in those regions. The travelling players got as far as Viramgam in Gujarat, where they discovered penury, even after selling off theatrical props and musical instruments. The company limped back to Lucknow through the kindness of one of Naushad’s friends.

Naushad had already become a cinema fan in the silent era and then, in 1931, Indian cinema got voice and music that further fascinated the 13-year-old boy. But his family was strict follower of Islamic diktat of prohibition of music and his father gave him ultimatum to leave music if he wanted to stay at home. He ran away to Mumbai in late 1937 to try his luck as a musician.[9]